"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."
— Mark Twain

Monday, June 07, 2010

Leaning Into the Curves by Anderson and Morris

Don't judge a book by its cover! I read the little description on the back of the book...a retired couple joining a Mormon motorcycle gang...uh would there be anything I could relate too. Surprisingly, I loved this book! It was slightly cheesy yet funny and insightful. I related more then I thought because I also am not the biggest fan of my husbands hobby of riding motorcycles. After reading this book which presented quite a few facts and different view points on motorcycling I can honestly say I would love to ride a motorcycle and have my husband ride more too!

The book turned into motorcycle therapy for me. The main character in the book, Molly, also had to work through some issues with riding. She was so afraid of motorcycles that she was completely blinded to anything good about them and was putting her hysteria and biased onto her children and grandchildren. After she learned step by step everything there is to know about motorcycles from a really good friend, she was able to come to terms with riding and excepting her husband love of riding.

I love the interaction between the husband and wife in this book. It was so real as they argued or did the silent treatment or tried to second guess each other. Luckily they also took time to pray and were patient enough to listen for inspiration before their marriage became one more sad divorce. They reminded me of my mom and dad after my dad retired. I can also see a bit of my husband and myself going through some of their same conflicts. I think reading this book will actually help me look at my life and relationship with my spouse a little different.

Even though the book was about an older couple I would recommend this book to anyone that just wants to read a good adventure between two people, or if you like motorcycles or not it would be a good one to read.

I didn't know there was a mormon motorcyle gang which is actually called TRA - Temple Riders Association. So they technically aren't a gang just a group of people that like to ride and do Temple work along the way. MOst of the people are retired couples and they ride touring bikes like Gold Wings. The wife sits behind the husband. They map out a route with plenty of tourist attractions and sightseeing along the way to a temple somewhere in the USA. Sometimes the trip takes a week or two and sometimes it is a day trip. There are also single members in the group and women sometimes drive their own motorcycle.

3 comments:

Thank for reviewing our book. Since writing it I've had a whole new perspective about motorcycles. Carroll and I recently attended a TRA Rally in Boise with over 200 members of the gang involved in temple work and service projects, motorcycles included. It was incredible! I even got a ride on the back of a Gold Wing tryke. I loved it!

Thanks for this review! Nancy and I love that the book had you thinking differently about riding with your hubby.

By the way, we just got back from the TRA rally in Boise, and we discovered that there are a lot of women who ride their own bikes, many of them Harleys. And there are some younger couples, too. So you just never know.

What impressed us most was how much fun this group has and how much they love each other. We'd love to figure out how to join them ourselves.